HYDERABAD: A total of 625 students received their graduation degrees at the 19th convocation of the Mehran University of Engi­neering and Technology (MUET) held in its auditorium on the Jamshoro campus on Thursday.

Ten gold and 27 silver medals as well as 50 merit certificates were awarded to the toppers and best graduates of the university. Besides, one MPhil and 40 master’s degrees were awarded to successful students of the MUET Jamshoro campus while another 42 students belonging to its Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto campus, Khairpur Mirs, were given the bachelor’s degrees.

Speaking at the convocation, MUET Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Aslam Uqaili said researches were being conducted in the university in prime fields, including environment, water, technical textile, information technology (IT), telecommunication and coal.

He said water was feared to become a major issue around the world in the next 10 years. He said the university was preparing a comprehensive report using the authentic data to evolve a strategy for the country to cope with the looming crisis.

A project being worked on with the help of USAID was helping the university, he added.

Prof Uqaili said the university was also conducting research in the fields of information technology, telecommunication and coal.

He told the fresh graduates to explore and pursue their careers in their respective fields.

Speaking as the chief guest, S.M. Qureshi, who is the the varsity’s founder VC, said that the MUET was facing various challenges when it was established.

There were only three departments when the first batch was enrolled and gradually the number was increased to 13 until he left the institution, he told the audience.

He said he had to work hard in view of a lack of sufficient funds at that time but managed to maintain the standards of education which remained high as compared to other engineering universities in the country.

Now the Higher Education Commission was there to ensure quality education at various universities while sufficient funds were also being made available to the institutions, he observed.

Sindh Agriculture University, Tandojam, Vice Chancellor Dr Mujeebuddin Sahrai was the guest of honour at the convocation.

Published in Dawn, April 22nd, 2016